Management Team

Name:

Chrystie Walker Brown

Job Title:

CEO and Chairwoman of the Board

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-6391

Email:

chrystie.brown@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Chrystie Walker Brown, daughter of founders Virginia and Chris Walker, closely witnessed the growth and development of the company from the original home office in Chester, VA throughout the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Longwood University in Virginia in 1984. She has served on the Board of Walker and Associates since 2001. Beginning in 2011, she was the board’s liaison to Walker’s quality management effort, working directly on Walker’s TL9000/ISO9000 quality program. In early 2013, she became Vice President of Quality and Contracts, reporting to Virginia Walker, CEO. After spending her career learning each area of the business through her upbringing, board work and quality leadership, Brown became CEO in April of 2014. In comments made to company associates when announcing her CEO transition, she stated “I am both honored and humbled by this new role. I am more excited about the combination of and caliber of people that we currently have at Walker than ever before. I am excited about the direction of the company and the technology centric initiatives that are in place. We are poised for real growth, real positive change and real expansion of market share. We have the talent, the ingenuity and the capacity for so much more”. In February 2017, Brown also became Chairwoman of the Board of Walker and Associates, Inc. and Walker Group, Inc.

Name:

Mark Walker

Job Title:

President

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-6391

Email:

mark.walker@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Mark Walker has been President of Walker and Associates since 1998. He has a broad range of industry experience in manufacturing, sales, operations and customer support. He formerly served as President of Evergood Fabrication, a subsidiary of Walker, which was sold to Reltec/Marconi in 1998. He also has a background in sales with Suttle Apparatus and BellSouth Advanced Systems. Mark holds a BA degree in Religion from Randolph-Macon College, located in Ashland, VA.

Name:

Doug Leckie

Job Title:

CFO / VP of Corporate Development

Address:

7219 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-5365

Email:

doug.leckie@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Doug Leckie is Vice President of Finance and Corporate Development and has been with the Company since 1998. Prior to Walker, he was a corporate loan officer with First Union National Bank, President and Board member of Burton Lines, Inc. and a Partner with the investment banking firm of Harrison and Hurley. Doug earned his BA degree from the University of North Carolina and his MBA from the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University.

Name:

Hal Sveum

Job Title:

VP of Operations

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-5222

Email:

hal.sveum@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Hal Sveum is the Vice President of Operations responsible for all daily operations and management in meeting the current customer and vendor needs. Hal joined the Walker team in 1995, brought 18 years of experience in the telecommunications industry with him to Walker. His experience in Manufacturing, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Installation and Customer Support was gained with industry leaders CommScope, ADC Telecommunication, and GTE Automatic Electric. Hal holds a BA degree from Concordia College in Organizational Management and Communications.

Name:

Tom Kane

Job Title:

VP of Commercial Sales

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-5236

Email:

tom.kane@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Tom Kane is Vice President of Commercial Sales at Walker and Associates and leads the sales organization to drive revenue growth for commercial sales and services.

Name:

Jane Brightwell

Job Title:

VP of Federal, International, RBOC (FIR) Sales

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-5263

Email:

jane.brightwell@walkerfirst.com

Background:

As VP of FIR Sales, Jane Brightwell is responsible for the development of the focus markets Federal, International, RBOC and WBE/Diversity. She returned to the telecommunications industry with Walker in 1997. Prior to that Ms. Brightwell had been Manager Customer Satisfaction World Wide for Sara Lee Corporation as well as serving in other roles within the textile industry. From 1984-1988, Ms. Brightwell had worked with the fiber optic start-ups of Celwave and DITEL which became Draka Communications. Education achievements include MBA from the Babcock Graduate School of Management’s Executive Program at Wake Forest University, MA from George Washington and BS in Journalism/PR from the University of South Carolina. She is the Carolinas Regional Vice President for Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) and has been board member of the North Carolina Chapter of AFCEA.She is an active member of Women In Defense Palmetto (SC) Chapter. In addition, Ms. Brightwell has served on the Board of Directors of Wake Forest University’s Family Business Center and City of Winston Salem Citizen's Budget Committee.

Name:

Trey Hall

Job Title:

VP of Marketing and Technology

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-5275

Email:

trey.hall@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Trey Hall is the VP of Marketing and Technology for Walker and Associates. Prior to joining Walker in July 2013, Trey spent 15 years at Fujitsu Network Communications in various roles including Engineering, Business Management, and Sales. Trey holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Texas A&M University and an MBA from University of Texas at Dallas. Trey resides in the metro Dallas area.

Name:

Frank Soos

Job Title:

Director of Outside Sales, West Region

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-5368

Email:

frank.soos@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Frank Soos is currently the Director of Sales, West Region for Walker and Associates. He manages all Regional Account Managers covering all commercial accounts in the western US. Frank brings over 30 years of experience in the IP networking and telecommunications industry for a wide range of products and technologies. Prior to joining Walker in June 2013, Frank worked as a regional sales director for BTI systems and was one of the first sales people at Occam Networks where he opened up territories all throughout the Western United States for over 7 years. Prior to that, he held executive positions at Hydraweb, Ericsson, ACC, Whittaker Systems and Armon Networks. Frank has a long history of developing international and domestic markets for a range of suppliers working in indirect and direct sales worldwide.

Name:

Tom Strangi

Job Title:

Director of Outside Sales, East Region

Address:

6230 Shiloh Road, Suite 210Alpharetta, GA 30005

Phone:

336-731-5437

Email:

tom.strangi@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Tom Strangi is Director of Sales, East Region for Walker and Associates. He manages Regional Account Managers covering all commercial accounts in the eastern US. Prior to joining Walker, Tom has worked in the telecommunications industry since 1980, with more than 20 years at ALLTEL, 2 years at Telco Systems, and most recently, 16 years at ADTRAN. Serving in several VP positions at ALLTEL and Telco Systems, and Sr. Director of Sales at ADTRAN, he is an accomplished sales leader with extensive experience developing and leading high performing teams to uncover business needs and identify solutions for broadband networking challenges faced in today’s competitive market. Tom graduated from University of Texas at Arlington with a BBA in Accounting, and currently resides in Alpharetta, GA.

Name:

Angie Hunt

Job Title:

Inside Sales Manager

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-5420

Email:

angie.hunt@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Angie Hunt was promoted to Inside Sales Manager for the North Carolina inside sales team in 2018. Angie has more than 20 years of telecommunication experience with Walker and Associates, and was previously Customer Service Supervisor managing the support for the inside sales team. During her career with Walker, she worked as a liaison between sales and various departments within the organization, was responsible for training all new sales and customer service associates, managed processes for Walker’s Quality Management System, served as first line of support for the sales team, and sales mentor. She was awarded Salesperson of the Year in 2000 and the Chris Walker award in 2010.

Name:

Nicholle Britt

Job Title:

Inside Sales Manager / Proposals Manager

Address:

6230 Shiloh Road, Suite 210Alpharetta, GA 30005

Phone:

336-731-5438

Email:

nicholle.britt@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Nicholle Britt joined Walker and Associates in 2009 through the Windstream Supply acquisition. She brings 13 years of experience in Inside Sales and Customer Service. She holds a BA from DeVry University in Business Operations and MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management.

Name:

Lisa Smiley

Job Title:

Director of Enterprise OEM Development

Address:

7129 Old Hwy 52Welcome, NC 27374

Phone:

336-731-5308

Email:

lisa.smiley@walkerfirst.com

Background:

Lisa Smiley joined Walker and Associates in 1989 and her career with the company has spanned sales, proposals and contracts, product marketing, and management. Lisa is currently the Director of Enterprise OEM Development and is responsible for strategic growth initiatives regarding new OEM development, working together with the GIR team to support SEWP V. Previously, Lisa served as VP of Marketing for more than 11 years and has attained professional awards and recognition including the Alva M. Stokes Customer Care Award and President’s Citation for Outstanding Performance and Achievement. She holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a native of Winston-Salem, NC where she is an active member of the Winston-Salem Junior League.